GRADUATE STORIES

Meet Neil Duncan

Neil Duncan

Marketing graduate, Neil Duncan, is currently a senior business director at global creative agency Leo Burnett, where he has been employed for the last 11 years.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m a marketer with over 11 years experience at global creative agency – Leo Burnett. In 2004, prior to starting at Leo Burnett I studied at Macleay College completing a Diploma in Business and Marketing. Outside of work you’ll usually find me in the kitchen or on the golf course.

What are your aspirations?I’ve always admired brands that can influence as well as entertain. They can do this through the power of creativity; and it’s the thrill and reward that comes from being part of this creative process that gets me out of bed every weekday when the alarm goes off. As I grow older my aspirations have evolved. 10 years ago, I wanted to work in a fun place with good people. 5 years ago, I wanted to make ideas that were fun and do so with good people. Now, I want to make brilliant creative work with the best people that drives commercial benefit to my clients and my company. The business side of the business has become a passion and I find myself constantly wanting to learn more about it.

Professionally, what are you up to now?I’m a senior business director at Leo Burnett, Sydney. I’ve been fortunate enough to find myself in a company that shares the same aspirations and values as myself and is full of brilliant people. In its simplest form my role has two areas of focus. Firstly, the majority of my time is spent on my clients and collaboratively solving their unique business problems – every day is a new challenge with its own opportunity. Secondly, I’m working with a small team to build a new business model separate to the core agency which is arguably the most ambitious project I’ve been involved with to date.

Why did you choose the course?I knew as a teenager that I wanted to work in a field that provided entertainment, was people-focused and would allow me to leverage my desire to organise everything and anything.

With some sage advice from my parents, a broad business course would serve me best for wide opportunity, and a marketing speciality would best suit my interests. The advanced diploma in business with majors in marketing & event management offered by Macleay provided the curriculum I wanted as well as the benefit of getting me qualified and into the work force within 12 months.

What was the Macleay experience like?I look back on my experience at Macleay fondly and can summarise it with three broad points:

The facilities were central, well equipped and readily available during my own time.

The faculty were friendly, passionate and genuinely cared for my development and future prospects.

The students were like-minded, hard-working and some I still call friends 12 years later.